


what did we do to deserve this

by bonanasplit



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Blood and Injury, Character Death, Emotions, Ethan survives, but Hannah doesn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22970911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonanasplit/pseuds/bonanasplit
Summary: they knew she had the doll.he couldn't save her.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 118





	what did we do to deserve this

**Author's Note:**

> look i hate myself for this just as much as you do, okay?
> 
> (shout out to morgan from the saf discord for coming up with this horrible au)

He should be dead. Ethan should be dead.

But he wasn’t.

He was hurt, and he was scared, and he was alone.

But he was alive.

A dull ache was setting in across his back and chest, pounding in time with his heartbeat. Blood was drying, sticky, on his temple and cheek, and his knuckles were bruised and raw.

Biting back a string of profanity, Ethan rolled onto his side and pushed himself upright, lurching sideways as one knee gave a painful twinge, crumpling partially under his weight. His breathing grew more labored as he fought to stay standing, and fear spiked through him.

What if they came back for him? They’d known Hannah had the doll, it didn’t seem unreasonable they’d be able to hear his breathing.

Fuck. The doll.

 _They’d lost the doll._ Their one ticket out of the shithole that was Hatchetfield. It was gone. 

But they’d lost something so much more important than that in the process.

He’d told her to run. To get herself to safety. But Hannah, sweet little Hannah, hadn’t.

She’d watched, frozen, as Ethan was surrounded by those, those _fucking nutjobs_ and they’d—they’d kicked and punched and then. And then.

It was all blurring together, a frenzied rush of blood and terror.

And then. They’d turned on her. They’d turned on Hannah, with shouts of “She’s got it! She’s got the doll!”

_How had they known she had the doll?_

He’d tried to stop them, to hold them off long enough for her to get away but—he couldn’t, he couldn’t do it and they’d caught her and—god. Her screams.

He wanted to run to her, to save her but—

The silence was worse than the screams.

The mall was horribly empty as Ethan hobbled out of the cinema.

Her body was so close, so battered and bloody.

She hadn’t stood a chance.

Ethan bit back a sob, falling to his knees next to Hannah.

“Hannah…oh god, Hannah, I’m so sorry I should have—I should have—” The words tumbled out in a croaking rush as Ethan began to cry in earnest, resting his forehead on Hannah’s chest. It didn’t matter if they heard him. Hannah was dead. Lex was probably dead too. What did it matter if Ethan died too?

And then he was angry.

He was _so fucking mad_. Hannah was _nine years old, and they’d **fucking killed her.**_

He was going to kill them. He was going to find who did this, and they would pay.

_Lex._

He saw her then, clear as day, her laughing face burning on the inside of his eyelids.

_He had to stay alive for Lex._

Ethan sat up, resting back on his aching legs.

And he promised.

_Lex, I’m going to find you. I’m going to stay alive, and I’m going to find you and get you out of here._

_With or without me, you are going to get to California._

Something inside him began to harden, condensing and reforming into a solid ball of steely determination.

Wiping his tears away with the back of his hand, he slid Hannah’s eyes shut.

She could almost be sleeping.

Gingerly, like she might break apart in his hands, he picked her up, cradling her against his chest.

She was heavier than he’d expected, a dead weight in his arms.

_Dead weight._

And fuck, now he was crying again, tears staining his shirt as he carried Hannah’s body back into the cinema.

He tucked her body behind the kiosk, removing the flannel from around his waist and draping it over her, a makeshift funeral shroud.

When this was all over, they’d be back for her. They’d give her a proper send-off.

But right now—

Right now, they had to survive.

_I’m gonna get you to California, Lex. Then you don’t gotta cry so much no more._


End file.
